A Gap Assessment is a strategic planning tool to help you understand where you are, where you want to be and how you’re going to get there.

One of the first steps in your Management System transition or implementation project is to compare your current Management System to the requirements of the standard. This is most commonly called a Gap Analysis; it is sometimes referred to as a Pre-Audit.

A gap assessment is mainly done at the beginning of the certification journey to assess what is currently in place against the set of requirements for which every standard is to be implemented. The standard has specific requirements that have to be met; these are detailed in various clauses. If your current system does not meet the requirements then there is a gap that must be addressed before an you can achieve successful certification.

This process can also be used when an organization has to transition to a new version of a standard or in the case of the new ISO 45001:2018 – migrating. It will provide an indication of where you are now and where you need to be to have a successful migration.